This invention relates generally to the field of livestock handling and more specifically to machine for alternating conveyor belt livestock loading.
As the production and processing of livestock, in particular poultry, has become centralized with thousands of animals raised and housed in one location and hundreds of thousands of animals processed in one location, the need arose to efficiently transport large numbers of animals from point of origin to the processing plants or other locations. Therefore, customized vehicles able to contain the maximum number of animals and loading methods to load the maximum number of animals most quickly with the least amount of stress upon and aggravation of said animals have been devised.
At present, the most common transportation means, particularly for poultry, is a flat bed trailer having cages or coops arranged side by side to form horizontal tiers and vertical columns. And the most popular loading means is a device having a conveyor system having a plurality of different moving belts communicating with the ground, where animals may be herded thereonto, and the interior of a coop where the animals may be deposited thus filling said coop.
These devices generally have a main conveyor system which may be individually raised or lowered, and which transfers animals to another loading conveyor belt which extends into the coop being loaded. This loading conveyor belt is progressively withdrawn as it moves animals into the coop as the coop is filled. Then, the coop is closed and the conveyor system is raised or lowered to the next coop and the process repeated.
When each coop in a column has been loaded, the trailer must be moved to align a new empty column of coops with the loader. This process is repeated until each column is filled.
Although the present state of the art is an improvement over the older methods, present methods also have disadvantages.
In example, when a coop is filled, the loader must be re-oriented to engage the next empty coop, and when a column of coops is full, the trailer must be moved. So, the main conveyor belt must be repeatedly stopped. Thus, the whole loading process requires constant stopping and starting. This causes excess wear and tear on the machine, excess energy consumption, and excess stress upon the animals being loaded. In addition, every time a column of coops is filled, the trailer must also be moved, further slowing the work.
In contrast to the present state of the technology, the herein taught art incorporates means to immediately load coops disposed side by side in adjacent columns. Thus, it cuts, by at least half, the number of times a trailer being loaded must be moved, thereby greatly reducing the time used. In additional contrast, the instant art is contrived so that as it is re-oriented from full coops to empty coops, the main conveyor belt may continue to run.
Thus, this new technology reduces the time required to load a trailer and reduces the stress on animals being loaded, thereby advancing the art of loading livestock onto trailers.